


Under Pressure

by shauds



Category: Batman (Comics), Blue Devil (DCU Comics), DCU (Comics)
Genre: Catatonic Jason Todd, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Supernatural Elements, the devil uses pop up ads, these kids need an adult
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:21:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22321735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shauds/pseuds/shauds
Summary: Eddie came to Gotham alone for what was supposed to be a one night stay. Finding his supposedly dead friend wondering the streets like a zombie complicates things. Now he has to deal with ninja assassins and luck so bad it's almost supernatural getting in the way of getting Jason home safe and finding out what happened to him.Someone's gotta turn up and help them at some point, right?
Relationships: Eddie Bloomberg & Jason Todd, eddie bloomberg & marla bloom
Comments: 24
Kudos: 106





	1. People on Streets

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dxs](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dxs/gifts).



> Based on a request from my tumblr that got out of hand, as most requests seem to for me. Plan on updating every Monday until it's done and I have two more chapters mostly done, so that shouldn't be hard to keep to. Title's from the Queen song. Lastly and most importantly, hope you guys enjoy ♡

“Hi Jason.”

Aunt Marla was going to bring Eddie on a visit to Gotham a whole lot sooner, they'd planned on comming right after that trip to the desert. As soon as she’d found a good spot to shoot her next movie and gotten all the legal stuff sorted, they were coming so Eddie could… visit his friend.

"Sorry I missed your funeral, I just didn't know… no one told me what…" His words, the explanation he wanted to give caught in his throat.

She'd thought it would help with closure if he could see it, and he could know for absolutely sure that his friend was gone. Not that he'd doubted it, he'd just thought… he wasn't really sure what he'd thought.

“I uh, wrote you a letter, but I forgot it.” He pretended his smile was bright and believable.

Aunt Marla would have reminded him, but she wasn't the one who'd brought him here, she'd never gotten the chance. She was never going to bring him anywhere again. Seeing her grave hadn’t given him anything like closure, but she’d wanted him to go to Gotham, so Eddie’d gone, the first time he'd ever traveled this far on his own.

“I can’t even remember what it said.” Lately, he'd been having a lot more trouble remembering a lot more things than he usually did.

Now he was all by himself, in a city he’d never seen before, standing in front of a piece of stone that had his friends name written on it, standing right on top of the ground where that friend was buried, and he didn’t feel any better at all. It didn’t make him feel **better** to know for sure his friend was never going to talk to him again any more than it had made him feel better to know it at Marla’s funeral. It didn’t help at all.

“I’m scared.” He pressed his palms into his eyes, trying to push down how they were burning, how his chest hurt worse than it ever had in his life, even counting the times he’d been tossed around as Kid Devil. There wasn’t even a point to pushing it all down, not like the dead people were going to see it, not like Eddie was going to convince himself that he was okay. That anything was okay.

“I don’t even **know** where my folks are, Jayce. I dunno what I’m s’posed to do now, where’m I s’pose to go, or...” It didn’t help to tell a dead person any of this, it hurt his throat to try and he was sure most of what he was saying wasn’t even understandable through the dumb tears that wouldn’t stop burning their way down his face. It was childish to think that Jason could listen to him, or help him. His dad would have yelled at him for standing there crying instead of manning up and doing something about his problems. Eddie had to take care of himself now, but he didn’t know how he was supposed to do that. Jason had taken care of **him** self better than any kid Eddie had ever met, he would have told Eddie exactly what to do and how to do it.

“I need someone to help me.” But that someone couldn't be Jason, Jason had probably died helping someone, he deserved to rest wherever he was.

Eddie still stood in the cemetery for so much longer than he should have, waiting, but just like he'd expected, there was no answer. No sign that helped him figure out what he was supposed to do. Nothing at all.

Thanks for being my friend while you could." Eddie sniffed and scrubbed his arm over his face. "I'll miss you, Jayce."

**ooo**

Later, Eddie was exhausted, his throat was hoarse and his eyes puff, and he felt awful and dumb for letting it happen. He used to be a superhero; he wasn’t supposed to whine about stuff like that. Neither Aunt Marla nor Jason would have wanted to see that break down, and if Dan had seen him…

Dan was the one who booked Eddie a room at the hotel and reserved his plane tickets here and back to California, but he hadn’t seemed very happy about it. The last thing Eddie needed was Dan seeing how much of a little kid Eddie was, when he'd promised he could handle it. Then he’d really never let Eddie be a hero again.

Sure Eddie had never been in whole city by himself before, but he’d been by himself plenty. Back in Syracuse he’d gotten so good at avoiding his parents, he could do it for days, and he was just spending one night in Gotham, - _**no** , no thinking about where he was going after Gotham_.

He was fine, that guy wasn’t **really** following him, and those alleys weren’t really **that** dark. It was just all the stories Jason had told him mixing badly with his overactive imagination that made everything seem all that much scarier than it was. _’Be careful, but don’t be scared,’_ was what Aunt Marla had always told him, being scared didn’t help with anything. There wasn’t any point to it, it was okay.

Jason always said to be very scared of Gotham, and **very** careful. And Jason had lived in the place, on his own for so long. But Jason had been just a kid too; Aunt Marla had to have known more about it than him.

It didn’t matter how careful they’d been, it hadn’t helped either of them, and now they were both gone.

The guy that had definitely not been following Eddie was gone, Eddie had been so caught up in his thoughts, he hadn’t even…

He was yanked off his feet the next step he took, ripped from his path faster than he could react, into the nearest alley and it was so, so dark, here, how could it be this dark outside in the middle of the day?. His head cracked against the wall hard enough that his vision blanked out at the same time as every atom of oxygen was forced from his lungs. Before Eddie could even think to do anything, he felt the prick of something sharp pressed at his throat.

“Empty your pockets, **now** , or I gut you and do it myself.” The man’s voice was deep and ever so slightly slurred, eyes discolored and wide enough Eddie could have wondered at how they weren’t popping out of their sockets looked down at him.

“Kay, o, okay.” Eddie stuttered, hands splayed out on either side of his head, then snaked one slowly to his pocket, all he had to pull out were his cellphone and the hotel room key.

The guy snatched them from Eddie’s hand and dropped the boy unceremoniously to the ground. Eddie pressed himself into the wall, heedless of the broken glass scouring his hands, and struggled to catch his breath. When he pressed fingers against his itching throat, they came back smeared with a bright, glossy red. Was blood supposed to be that bright? Or was it just that everything else in Gotham was so gray?

Something small shattered on the ground near Eddie. His mind was a little fuzzy, but he was sure that was his phone. Why would…

“The fuck is this?” The guy had his hand fisted in Eddie’s shirt, pushing him up against the wall again, and he was practically growling in Eddie’s face. “What you think I want with that cheap shit?”

Well, how was Eddie supposed to know, he wasn't the one doing the mugging. Eddie wisely kept those words to himself, he could barely get the words he did out of his mouth past the biting of his shirt into his bleeding neck. “S’all I have!” Aunt Marla hadn’t wanted Eddie spoiled like some of the kids on the sets, especially after he'd taken his first one apart. It wasn't like he'd have much to do with a fancy phone anyway, all he'd ever used them for was texting and calls.

“Think you’re a smart brat?” The man shook Eddie sharply, smacked his head against the wall again, and this time Eddie tasted blood when the edge of his tongue got caught in his snapping teeth. “Think Mommy and Daddy are gonna be proud of their lying little **shit**?”

He shook Eddie again and it was all the boy could do to shake his head and try kicking at the guy, forcing out a chant of, “No, no, no, no…”

The man waved his knife in Eddie's face as he spoke. “Yeah, they’re gonna be real proud when they find you with your blood all…”

Eddie was supposed to be a superhero, he was supposed to fight off the bad guys, he was supposed to save people, be brave, not this.

Eddie fell to the ground again, but this time he barely felt the impact, his vision blurry from tears he couldn’t close his eyes to blink away. He couldn’t see what knocked the guy away from him, only that is was too fast to follow. He wasn’t sure he wanted to follow; he drew his knees up to his chest and buried his face in them as he wrapped his arms around himself and squeezed tightly.

He wasn’t supposed to be scared, he wasn’t supposed to cry and hide. Babies cried, and cowards, and Eddie **wasn’t** , he wasn’t either of those things. Eddie was strong, he was… he didn’t want to be so scared.

He could hear the _’thwack, thwack, thwack,’_ of the fight, heard a horrifying, sickening crack, and then the guy was screaming. Screaming so loud Eddie almost covered his ears, another crack, almost as bad as the first, and the screaming stopped, to be replaced by begging and whimpering but the hitting didn’t stop until there was a _’BANG’_ , then scraping and footsteps retreating unevenly down the alley.

More than hearing, Eddie felt the presence grow near and lower itself down to his level. It smelled awful, worse even than Eddie had that one week they’d been scouting locations in the rainforest and hadn’t been able to find someplace to wash for days. He flinched almost hard enough to hit his head against the wall **again** when he felt the hands frame each side of his face, but they were gentle when they lifted his head up from his knees.

”G…ph…pher.” The voice was eerie, hollow, like the voice of a ghost in a bad horror movie, it made Eddie’s skin crawl worse than any movie ever could, it was almost… familiar?

Eddie wasn’t going to be scared. He opened his eyes and blinked to let the tears fall in trails down his cheeks.

“O…k…k…ay?” The voice was halting and grated like its owner had lived his life with severe bronchitis, his face was filthy and smeared with blood; the same blood, Eddie realized belatedly, as must have been the tackiness sticking the hands to Eddie's face and speckled along the floor behind him. But the expression on the face peering back at him was kind, if a little blank. The eyes gray as the city around them and partly hidden by stringy, tangled strands of dark hair were familiar, distressingly so.

“J… Jason?” Eddie brought his own hands up to his rescuers face and the other boy responded by angling his head to the side.

Where before, Eddie’s heart had been pounding so hard it hurt, for that brief moment, it seemed it had stopped entirely.

**ooo**

_‘You assured me you had the child in hand, the docile, **mindless** child, and now you tell me you dare to tell me you’ve already misplaced him.’_

_'My Lord, I couldn’t tell you how it happened. One moment, the boy was placid as a trained dog, then he, he moved so suddenly, so fast, by the time we had realized, he'd vanished.'_

_’I see, and you neglected to put in place any means of tracking him?’_

_’As far as we could have told, there was no need. My Lord he was…’_

_’A protégé of the Bat. Whatever he appears as now, it was made clear at the start that the boy has retained at least some of that skill, and **you** were foolish enough to underestimate it.’_

_’We will find him again, soon and this time, mindless or not, we will see to it that he cannot escape again.’_

_’See that you do lest I find someone more appropriate for the task and have them trim off some excess in the process.’_


	2. Watching Some Good Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie realizes Jason's not as okay as he thought, not even close.

“Jason…” Eddie repeated, he braced his finger tips on the wall and pulled himself to his feet, the boy in front of him backed up to allow the movement, but Eddie grabbed his face again as soon as he was upright. He was met with no resistance when he turned his friend’s face this way and that, when he held his hand in front of Jason’s mouth to check for a breath.

”Oh my **god**!” Eddie pulled Jason into a hug and squeezed tight as he could, tight enough that if this were an illusion it would have burst. It didn’t. It stayed firm and real in his arms, the pulse at his neck strong against Eddie’s cheek. “I heard you were dead, I just got back from your grave and it was awful and I started crying like a baby, and I’m crying now, I’m so sorry, I can’t believe you’re really here.” He buried his face in Jason’s hair, and really, he did feel bad about the results of his ugly crying soaking into it and making a mess, but he couldn’t let go. “And you look **awful** , what have you been **doing** Jayce?”

Jason didn’t toss an insult back at Eddie, didn’t give so much as a twitch in response to anything. His hands stayed at his sides no matter how hard Eddie held him, his whole body was loose and floppy in Eddie’s arms.

”Jason?” Eddie pulled away and wiped his arm across his face to remove some of the tears and… other stuff. “It’s just a joke, I get you were probably working hard on…” Eddie froze when he looked at Jason’s face again, found it was still blank, as if Jason were watching a boring documentary, “something important.”

He patted Jason’s shoulder, which again, elicited not even the most subtle of responses. “What’s the matter?”

Eddie noticed an odd line peeking up from under Jason’s matted hair and moved his hand up higher, over his dirt caked cheek and higher to the splash of blood near his brow. It had been hard to see under the dirt, but Eddie’s fingertips could pick out the shape of the thick, ropey scar with ease, follow it up past his hairline and to where it spanned all the way at the back of his head. With a hiss, he yanked his hand back feeling as though it had been burned. Now, Eddie was no doctor, but even he could tell that that was very, very bad.

**ooo**

Eddie had a whole story planned for the Receptionist at the hotel about where his parents were, what had happened to his keycard for him to need the replacement. There was no chance to use it; she didn’t so much as bat an eye at him, even when she got a look at the scruffy kid Eddie pulled after him by the hand. Eddie didn’t know if that was a Gotham thing, or just how hotel staff was in most places, they’d mostly known who he was with whenever else he used them. He was a little too worried about Jason to add that onto it though.

Jason hadn’t said so much as a word since the alley, no matter what Eddie had done to try and engage him. Only followed when Eddie had pulled him along after him by the hand, but he did that easily at least, no fussing or trying to pull away. It hadn’t been hard to bring Jason up to the hotel room, but then, there was no way around it, Jason was **really** dirty. Eddie didn’t trust that there might have been some other injury hidden under all the blood and dirt Jason was coated in and on top of that, Jason had always said he hated being dirty. While Eddie knew it wouldn’t heal Jason or anything like that, he was sure it would at least make him feel a little better, and that made it worth it.

The solution Eddie came come up with, after around an hour’s worth of unsuccessful attempts at communicating verbally with Jason, was to lead Jason, fully clothed, to the small bathtub.

”You’re not a zombie, right?” Eddie paused in spraying his friend with the showerhead, and looked at him a little closer. Under all the dirt, and there was a lot of dirt running down the drain, the boy was undeniably Jason. Skinnier by a lot, and now shorter than Eddie when before he’d been a little taller – they’d figure Eddie would outgrow him eventually, so it wasn’t that odd – and with his hair too long, but it was definitely Jason. 

Jason was too absorbed in studying the bath sponge himself to answer, repeatedly squishing it to watch the soapy suds emerge, then releasing it to replenish them beneath the water. “I guess a zombie’s hair wouldn’t grow.” Eddie poured half the supplied bottle of shampoo on Jason’s head to get that hair clean. "Or maybe it would." Eddie thought he might have heard something like that before.

”Still, you better not try and bite me.” Eddie made sure to make eye contact with his hopefully not a zombie friend as he said it. He took Jason’s lack of a response as an affirmative and moved on to washing Jason’s hair. Jason tensed up at first, but then he leaned into the touch like a big cat. Eddie grinned as he worked his hands through Jason’s hair and got the soap ran down Jason's neck and back loosening still more dirt to darken water that had until then begun running clear.

Briefly, very briefly, Eddie entertained the idea that Jason might have crawled out of his grave to help Eddie in that alley, but even he could tell that this wasn’t that kind of dirt. It was the kind accumulated layer after layer from being outside without shelter for too long. For this much of it, and for how scrawny and unkempt Jason looked, it must have been a while.

”Guess you can’t tell me how this happened, huh?” Eddie mused aloud, feeling the roadway map of scars raising the skin all along Jason’s scalp made him feel like he’d eaten bad seafood, he couldn’t imagine what might have caused it. He picked up the showerhead to properly wash away the soap. Even Jason’s clothes looked better now, still stained beyond repair, but Eddie could almost make out what color they’d once been. Jason still needed to get changed out of them for his bath to do him any good. There was no way for Eddie to do that without getting them off.

”Okay.” Eddie said a bundle of clothes to dress Jason into held tightly in his arms. “We never speak of this again, deal?”

While Jason, again, didn’t have much to say on the matter, he was at least quiet and still while Eddie looked him over for any bad injuries - thankfully, all he found were a couple of scratches and bruises - and went through with undressing and redressing him into an old ‘CREW’ t-shirt that had gotten pretty small on Eddie, but fit Jason really well, and a pair of shorts that were a little loose, but the best Eddie could do for him. Still better than the rags he’d been wearing before.

A couple of minutes later, and Jason was sitting at the foot of the bed, blankly munching on a bag of chips, looking a lot more like himself – not saying much really – and leaving Eddie to pace up and down the seven feet of space he had with a new dilemma. What in hell was he supposed to do with the other boy now?

He was very obviously **not** dead, and probably not a zombie either, but then what **had** happened to him? There was a grave, with a headstone and a funeral nobody had invited Eddie to. Or… maybe not? It wasn’t like Eddie could have said for sure there was ever a body in that coffin, and it couldn’t have been Jason if there was. So, maybe there’d been some kind of a mix up, from what Eddie had been able to find out, it might have been hard to tell **who** they’d put in the coffin.

And Mister Wayne was observant, but grief made people act different than usual; Eddie knew because the counselor he’d been sent to had said it to him about a hundred times and that was why Eddie hadn’t gone back to her after those first couple of sessions. There were a lot of bad guys out there; maybe after this had happened to Jason, they’d had to fake his death to keep him safe? Or maybe…

Eddie looked back to Jason, who was moving on to the other bag of chips Eddie had left next to him. Now he looked at more than just the horrible scar at Jason’s head. He looked at the scars on Jason’s fingertips, and his knuckles, along his left cheekbone, and though Eddie couldn’t see them anymore, his ribs too, they didn't look like accidents. And with that many, they had to have happened over a period of time or there was no **way** Jason would have been sitting with Eddie right now. Maybe it was a bad guy that had done this? No, Jason had been way too scruffy for his family to have been taking care of him; it was definitely a bad guy that had done this.

Someone had hurt his friend this badly **on purpose** , and Jason was still enough of a hero that he’d risked himself to save Eddie. Eddie swallowed, hoping it would push down the almost painful feeling in his throat when he went to the edge of the bed and took Jason’s face in his hands to meet the dulled eyes of the boy who’d been so bright and full of energy.

”’M so sorry Jayce.” Eddie said softly, worried despite everything that if he spoke to loudly his voice would hurt his friend. “We’re gonna make it better, okay? They’re not gonna get to hurt you ever again.

Jason, as it was dawning on Eddie might be the case for a while, didn’t have anything to say.

**ooo**

Calling Mister Wayne was Eddie’s first choice. It was a good thing he still had the number memorized, because when he’d pulled his phone from his pocket, he’d found the device **hadn’t** spontaneously repaired itself. Now that was something someone should have gotten on with inventing by now, Eddie was going to bring it up with Dan the next time they spoke, which would be soon, but first, calling Batman to let him know about Robin.

The room didn’t have its own landline like some of the fancier ones Eddie had been to; it did have the remains of the cord where one such telephone might have once hung on the wall, but that would have been ages ago. When he asked the receptionist about borrowing one, she’d muttered about freebees and told him to try the phone booth a block away without looking up from her crossword. She’d scoffed when he’d asked if she was sure it would work, and he’d taken that as a maybe.

So, he’d had to find some shoes that sort of fit Jason’s feet – the one instance where Eddie’s stuff was too **small** for Jason – and all that even sort of worked were a pair of bright orange, open toed sandals. It didn’t help with blending in, but the idea of leaving Jason alone was terrifying. This time, Eddie made sure to bring along his bubble shooter, he wasn’t going to get caught off guard like that again. He also stuffed another bag of chips in his pocket, because Jason hadn’t slowed down on the eating at all, and Eddie wasn’t a monster.

It was as easy walking Jason out and down the street as it had been walking him in. This time they did get a couple of looks, which **was** a little weird taking into account Jason had looked horrible the first time. He thought he saw something dark and wispy slink around at the corner of his eye, but figured he must have imagined it when they made it to the phone booth without a hitch.

Imagination or not, he still brought Jason into the booth with him and made sure to shut the door properly and keep hold of Jason’s hand even as he slipped in some of the little change he had in the slot, and dialed.

Eddie held his breath while the dial tone rang in his ear, his throat going drier with every time it repeated. It couldn’t have been taking as long as he thought it was, but he thought it was taking way too long. He remembered the times he’d tried to call the house before all of this, how all he’d succeeded in doing was making them mad at him. They probably still had his actual number blacklisted now that he thought about it.

There were a series of clicks on the other end and Eddie took a deep breath to calm himself. It was going to be fine.

_’Good d-y, you’ve -eached Alfred P-nnyworth -ayne Ma-r.’_ Oh wow, that was a lot of static, it took Eddie a couple seconds to get what the guy had said.

His mouth went dry as soon as he recognized the voice on the other end. “Hi.” Eddie swallowed, both hands holding tightly enough onto the receiver that it made squeaky plastic sounds. “I, uh, need to speak to Mister Wayne.” Eddie said, then added on hastily. “It’s really important.”

_’-ight I inquire -s to why th- is, y-ng -n?’_ He didn’t sound like he recognized Eddie’s voice, or like he was annoyed, but there was a **lot** of static, like a huge amount, he could have been imagining that, right? _’-hard to hea-_ ’

”Y, Yeah, sorry.” Eddie swallowed and told himself to calm down, this was too important to freak out over it; he spoke slowly so he hoped that at least most of his words would get through to the other side. “I know this is gonna sound weird, but it’s totally not made up, I **swear**. I found…” Eddie looked up and Jason wasn’t where he’d left him. Eddie spun on his heel in search of his friend, and spotted Jason sprinting after something small and lizard-like around the back of the phone booth, “Jason, no!”

Without thinking, Eddie dropped the receiver and ran after him. Thin as he was, Jason still got two steps away from the very busy Gotham street before Eddie could grab hold of his arm put himself between Jason and the speedy traffic.

”What are you doing? You can’t just **do** that Jason.” Eddie’s voice was shrill, his heart hammering away behind his ribs tried to make Jason look at him, but compared to the way he’d been since Eddie had found him, Jason was almost animated.

He craned his head over Eddie’s shoulder, jerking it quickly as he tried to look at… Eddie turned, this time holding onto Jason’s arm even tighter than he had before, but the weirdest thing he could see was a big, reddish lizard scurrying amongst the trash on the other side of the street. And this was Gotham, if everyone who’d told Eddie stories about the place were to be believed, there were a dozens of plenty weirder things for them to see.

Eddie huffed and fixed his frown on Jason. “Now imagine if you got hurt again right when I was… Oh no.” Eddie spun back to the phone booth; he’d left Alfred on the phone. 

He’d probably hung up already, oh no, oh no, oh no. Eddie tried to hurry back to the booth, but in another first, Jason was fighting him, tugging back on Eddie’s grip, keeping him from moving forward.

”Jason, we...” Eddie strained to pull Jason forward, ” **have** to…” Jason dug his heels into the ground, “tell them.” Eddie pulled, and even though Jason was weaker than he was, it was taking a lot of effort to get him to budge. One step away from the booth, Eddie spotted the sparks, then the smoke that poured out from around the front. In his shock, Eddie stopped pulling and all it took was one, over done tug for Jason to pull both of them both to the ground, his body covering Eddie’s, right as the booth erupted into flames.

”Oh hell.” Eddie whispered, his eyes shooting between Jason and the inferno just behind him. Either Gotham’s infrastructure was just that bad, or… What had Jason seen? “I think we’re in some trouble here Jayce.”

This time, Eddie thought he could pick up a hint of ‘no duh’ in Jason’s expression.

”You don’t have to be like that about it.” Eddie grumbled and stood up, brushing the dirt and soot from his knees. People around him were really paying attention now. He got hold of Jason’s hand and pulled him up too. Maybe finding a way to call from back at the hotel was just the tinniest bit of a better idea.


	3. Sat on a Fence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie calls for help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unedited, because I am tired -_-

It was dumb, but the whole way back to the hotel, all Eddie could think about was that he should have spat out his hotel and room number before he’d tried to explain anything. He couldn’t have predicted what would happen to that poor phone booth when he’d tried to use it, but it that way at least Mister Pennyworth would have known where they were, even if he didn’t know who they were. Batman would have followed up on that, if he was half as paranoid and meticulous as Jason had always made it seem, he would have followed up on it.

There was still hope that Batman would find out and track where the call had come from, and find them that way, but Eddie wasn’t going to be hinging whether or not they got caught by a supervillain on that.

As much as Eddie wanted to hole up in his hotel room and wait for help to come, he had to find a way to call that help. He would have asked the receptionist again, but there was nobody at the front desk when Eddie stopped by, so he resorted to knocking on the other room’s doors and hoping someone would help him out.

After an hour, he found that most wouldn’t even bother opening up, most of those who did took one look at him and shut the door again, and those who actually gave him a chance to ask gave him a variety of scowls and otherwise disbelieving looks.

Eventually it was an old lady with ashy skin and reddish eyes that looked like she really needed some sleep who smiled down at him at the door instead of looking at him like he was up to something.

”Oh, I’m not sure what I’ve done to this little thing, but you’re welcome to use it if you can figure out how to get the darned thing to work.” She’d brought out a cellphone that probably cost more than ten of the one Eddie had lost. “All I can do with it nowadays is answer my grandchildren’s calls.”

”You are the nicest person in this whole city.” Eddie said, accepting the phone, and he meant it. He’d barely been here a day, and the only reason he could think of that most of them stayed was that they liked being around people as mean as them.

The old lady smiled, and Eddie was sort of embarrassed that the sight of her sharp seeming teeth frightened him for a moment. “It’s no problem at all young man.” Her eyes roamed over his shoulder and landed on Jason, who had a loose grip on the back of Eddie’s shirt. “Aw, your little friend doesn’t look too well.”

”Yeah,” Eddie instinctively reached behind him and tugged Jason a little to the side, so Eddie could still see him out the corner of his eye. “T’s why I gotta call his dad to pick him up.” Eddie went to dial the number, but almost right away a bright, colorful pop up covered the screen.

“Huh?” It said something about problems solved, probably a psychic, Eddie closed out of it before he read it very closely. He tried to dial again, but another popped up, and another on top of that. Eddie tried to get out of them, he tried to dial more quickly, but about as soon as he got the number mostly entered, the phone froze up entirely and began emitting an annoying high pitched sound.

The woman sighed loudly. “You see? These new things are so complicated.” She stepped closer to get a better look at what he was doing.

”Yeah.” Eddie agreed. Jason didn’t like having her nearer; he backed up and tried to tug Eddie along with him. “Ouch, hey.” Eddie spun around to glare at Jason; Jason tugged again, his eyes fixed on the lady. Eddie broke his friends hold on him. “Just hold on, I’m busy.” Eddie found the power button on the phone and pressed down. “I think you have a virus.” He told the woman.

”Oh dear!” She brought her hands to her mouth. “But I’ve just been to the doctors.”

”No, no, no.” Eddie said hurriedly, waving his hands back and forth. “I mean, on your phone, it’s these ads.” He held the device out to her.

”Oh dear.” She repeated, this time shaking her head mournfully. “So complicated.”

”I think I can get rid of it for you.” Eddie frowned down at the newest ad to pop up, another ‘all your problems solved bit’. He wished things could be that easy. He closed the pop up and turned off the internet connection, thinking it would keep more from interfering while he looked for the problem, but they must have been downloaded on the phone itself somewhere too, because it didn’t help at all.

”You two are welcome to come in while you try.” She offered, reaching a hand towards Eddie. “This city can be horribly dangerous for children at night.”

Eddie would have scoffed at the ‘night’ part of that if he wasn’t trying to be as polite as possible, and he would have taken her up on working on the phone inside too, but Jason tugged at Eddie again, keeping the woman from touching him. Eddie looked over his shoulder at his friend, who was tense and still holding onto Eddie’s shirt tightly, still watching the woman with something a step above his usual blankness. Eddie doubted Jason was going any closer without a fight, and he really didn’t want to make a scene in front of the only person that was willing to help them.

”its okay, shouldn’t take too long.” Eddie closed off another ad from Neron something or other and set to work, estimated - very hopefully - it would take him about fifteen minutes to get the phone working.

The phone crashed five more times and that wasn’t even the worst of it, having to close new pop ups constantly while weird noises blared through the speakers. He didn’t know what poor programmer had made this ad bot, but he hated them with a passion when he finally got rid of it while sitting curled over it on the ground hours later.

”All fixed.” Eddie grinned and stood up, his back felt amazing when he got to stretch it out, he let out a sigh, puffing out his cheeks and rubbed at a tired eye.

”How wonderful.” The woman didn’t seem to have moved from her position at all in the time Eddie had been busy.

Neither did Jason; he grabbed hold of Eddie as soon as he was in reach and kept him from moving any closer to the door.

Eddie huffed at his friend, but let it go and started tapping out Dan’s number. He didn’t care if he got yelled at for this, or Dan made him go home right away, he was just tired and tired of being scared and he wanted to fix things as soon as possible. But… as soon as possible wasn’t Dan, was it? Dan was all the way in Metropolis and there might now have been time for him to come to Gotham right away just to help Eddie. The closest heroes were the ones Eddie had to call first, because there was no guarantee she’d let him make more than one call.

So again, he had to call Batman first. When he finally heard the dial tone, as shrill and creepy as it sounded to his tired ears Eddie couldn’t have been happier. The woman grinned too and Eddie realized another problem. He couldn’t really explain that his friend they all thought was dead was alive and something weird had kept him from finishing his phone call earlier, in front of a stranger. Again, he realized that too late.

 _’You’ve reached Wayne Manor…’_ The voice was again filled with static that made for some kind of terrifying background noise

”Hi, yeah I called earlier about…”

_…’unfortunately it appears there is no one present to take your call, if you would please leave a message and a contact number, someone will be in contact shortly.’_

Eddie groaned and pressed his back against the wall again for support as he heard the beep. “This is Eddie again. Jason’s really not feeling well, and this is really not a joke, but could someone please come and get him,” Eddie rattled off the hotel’s name, address and his room number at the end before hanging up.

Well there, they’d probably get it soonish, he knew they were probably home, since Mister Pennyworth had answered the phone earlier, they just had to wait.

”Thanks a lot.” Eddie said. “Uhm, could I make one more call though? I was supposed to call my… uncle earlier too.”

”Of course.” She grinned at him again, and again Jason tried to tug Eddie away. “It’s horrible making people worry.”

”Yeah, I know.” And he did feel bad, Dan had been hesitant enough about helping Eddie get to Gotham, he didn’t want to cause trouble. Eddie began dialing Dan’s number under her watchful eye, but he wasn’t even halfway done and one of those annoying, default ringtones started blasting from the speakers.

”Oh that must me my grandchildren.” Clearly delighted, the woman had the phone answered and by her ear faster than her appearance would have led anyone to believe. “I hope you find someone else to help you, goodnight children.” And the door was closed.

Eddie sighed now more tired than ever, he turned to look out the nearest window and was surprised to find that it had grown dark. “How’d it get so late?” He asked Jason, who didn’t have a reply. “At least we got one call out, ‘m sure they’ll…” Eddie’s yawn cut him off mid sentence. “… call him when they find us, right?”

Jason was still staring at the old lady’s door when Eddie looked back to him, if there was any emotion behind the look, Eddie might have compared it to a cat watching a mouse hole.

”We should probably waiting be in the room when someone comes looking, huh?”

**ooo**

”My Aunt would kill me for this.”

Aunt Marla hadn’t been a heath nut, at least not to the extent that some of the actors and crewmembers Eddie had met on various sets had been. But he was pretty sure she would have wanted him to eat actual food for dinner and not a pile of cakes and chips from the vending machine in the lobby. He reasoned that it wasn’t like he could call for takeout, and running to the diner across the street might make them miss anyone who came by.

Sure he could have gotten the sandwiches instead, but who **really** knew what went into those, right? And Jason was really was too thin, he probably needed all the carbs he could get; at least he didn’t seem to mind the strawberry cake Eddie presented him with. At least no more than he’d minded anything else Eddie had given him.

”You wanna try the chocolate or peanut butter next?” Eddie asked a cake in each hand after Jason had finished the first one.

Jason reached for the chocolate and Eddie told himself it wasn’t just because it was closer. Eddie unwrapped the peanut butter and set it on the bed next to Jason before picking out one for himself.

“Guess Batman would be sorta mad too, he’s definitely gonna put you back on your old health diet when you get home.” Eddie bit into his cake without paying attention to what flavor it was. “You remember how you used to complain about that?” Eddie chuckled. “You were so happy when it was over.” Jason finished the chocolate cake and crammed the peanut butter into his mouth immediately after. “Yeah, pack it in while you can buddy.”

Eddie gave Jason more chips after that, some salt to balance out the sweetness. “Guess we coulda risked the diner to see if they had chili dogs too, huh?” Eddie mused, punching a straw into one of the juice boxes he’d gotten so at least some part of the meal was healthy. “Coulda left a note here just in case, I should have thought of that first time around. My Aunt would have.”

Of course, if his Aunt were here to think of things, he wouldn’t have had to be waiting for someone to come and help them in the first place. She would have handled the whole thing a lot better than Eddie was. Would have found out exactly where Jason’s house was and just gone right there without any fuss.

Hell, if anyone but Eddie were there, they'd have fixed it already, if Jason had found Eddie like this and not the other way around, Eddie would have already been home and all better by now. Eddie was supposed to be a superhero too, shouldn’t he have just found Jason’s house and took him there anyway? He did have parts of his suit with him; there really wasn’t any reason that he should have been this scared of heading out that way by himself. The cut on his neck itched as if in retaliation for Eddie forgetting about it so soon, forgetting what had happened just earlier that day because he’d thought he could do any little stupid thing on his own. Something this big, he’d screw up way, much worse.

He fell over on the bed, is head hitting the hard pillow with a soft ‘humph’ and curled over to his as he brought the straw to his lips. It didn’t matter, Batman would show up soon and take Jason home, and then Eddie would go live with those people they had set up for him while they looked for his parents and Aunt Marla would still be… but Jason would be okay, right? In addition, that was okay…

Eddie sniffed and flung him upright, frantically wiping away the wetness that he’d taken too long to noticed was covering his cheeks. “Course its okay.” He muttered to himself, and it was, really. So why were more tears falling no matter how fast he wiped them away?

Cake filled his mouth and Eddie started, toppling over and off the bed, he was on the floor before he could even process what had happened. Jason knelt in front of the space Eddie had been occupying moments earlier, his expression placid and the other half of the messily unwrapped cake still in his hand. Jason looked at the cake, then at Eddie, his head cocked ever so slightly to the side, and he reached out his hand, offering the rest of it to Eddie as well.

”Jason.” Eddie tried to say Jason’s name around his mouthful of cake, but it didn’t come out intelligible even to his own ears.

Jason crawled off the bed and tried to feed Eddie still more of the cake.

”No.” Eddie grinned and brought his arms up to fend Jason off, even out of it as he was, Jason was still moved faster than Eddie and managed to squish the rest of the cake against Eddie’s teeth. “Really?” Eddie tried to wipe the mess away with the back of his hand, but only spread it around more.

Jason leaned in close, some spark of himself in his slightly narrowed eyes, then climbed back onto the bed and retrieved the bag of chips he hadn’t yet finished. Apparently not satisfied with his previous victory, he brought the chips over too and offered them to Eddie with the same blank look as before.

”I have my own, Jayce.” Eddie moved around Jason to snatch a bag of chips off the bed for himself and held them out for his friend’s inspection.

Jason looked at Eddie’s bag for a couple seconds, then lightly smacked it aside and tried to shove his own in Eddie face again. Eddie ducked and sat down legs crossed on the ground in front of Jason and pulled his bag open.

”It’s the same, see?” Eddie took one chip out and held it out to Jason.

Jason accepted it gently, like he was taking a very delicate piece of glass from Eddie, he looked the chip over turning it slowly in his hand, then he thrust it back at Eddie.

Only when Eddie ate the chip and got out another, did Jason sink down into a position similar to Eddie’s and go back to eating too.

Eddie snorted and made another attempt at wiping some of the sticky strawberry cake filling from his face. “You’re kind of a brat, y’know.” He shook his head when there was no response and went in search of the TV remote. “You wanna watch something? Pretty sure there’s gotta be a whole channel for horror in **this** city.”

Jason got back on the bed after Eddie and went right back to the pile of food to snag a juice box. He didn’t have a problem plucking the straw off the side, but could seem to get a grip on the tightly wrapped plastic to get it off, his scarred hands shaking where they held on to it. Eddie worried that maybe, there was something wrong there too.

”Here, let me.” Eddie’s throat was dry again and his stomach sank, his own hands shook too when he took the box from Jason. “Maybe just cartoons instead, huh? I’m a little tired of scary stuff right now.”

It took about ten minutes to get through all the food Eddie had bought, and only then did Jason settle down next to Eddie. He looked vaguely in the direction of the bright colors on the TV until he fell asleep curled up peacefully under the blanket Eddie carefully pulled over him.

Whatever was wrong with Jason, he at least never seemed like he was in any pain, or like he was sad, or scared or anything. Eddie could be happy for that at least.

Eddie tried not to fall asleep himself, he wanted to be awake to be sure he wouldn’t miss whoever it was that showed up to get Jason, but he was just so tired. He’d spent most of the day tired. Most of **most** days tired it seemed and he just couldn’t do it right then. Minute by minute his eyes grew heavier and even the bright flashing lights on the TV wouldn’t keep them up.

In the end, it didn’t take Eddie very long to slide down besides his friend and drift off too.

**ooo**

He woke as he always did, looking for something important, something he expected to find right there next to him. In that, it was the same as always, but in the next few moments things were different.

Warm.

It had been a very long time since he’d felt something like this sort of warmth.

Soft too, no hunger or wetness seeping into his bones. Just warm and soft.

Not safe though.

As nice as it was to lay like this, to listen to the breathing next to him and feel warm and close to someone, it was just another thing to remind him that watching was needed, because they were very much not safe.

Slowly, so he didn’t disrupt anything, he sat up and turned his eyes to the brightest source of light in the room they fixed on were the bright colors and familiar sounds of… something.

 _’I am the pretty guardian, Sailor Moon, and now in the name of the Moon, I’ll punish you.’_ Whatever it was, it was… nice to see it, nice to listen to it. He might have done it longer, let himself sit and listen until he fell back asleep, if not for that horrible feeling of not safeness.

When he turned to the body next to him, there was that something again. Not what he’d been looking for, but this was… something. Something also important, he couldn’t go looking for other things when there was something important here.

_’Gopher.’_

His mouth wouldn’t make the sounds, but he could hold the word in his head when he looked down at the sleeping body. The wetness on its cheeks again took him by surprise, as they had before, that was… wrong… not good. He didn’t understand why, but he didn’t like it.

Maybe if he cleaned it away it would fix…

No, something worse. He got up quickly and went to where something had moved. While he watched there was a low clicking noise, then fabric fluttering in the wind.

The blank faced thing moved a part of itself past the barrier, something sharp glinting in the colorful lights, a sharp hand beckoning him forward.

There was something he was supposed to do here; he couldn’t remember what he was supposed to do.

Danger. Hide.

He went back to the bed and covered both himself and the other boy in all the blankets he could find. It couldn’t find them if it couldn’t see them; couldn’t get them. Still not safe, but... He peeked out from under the blankets, the hand was still there. He’d just keep watch, he’d keep them safe.


	4. Burns A Building Down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note I've upped the rating, I've just realised that those graphic depictions of violence are going to come off as a whole lot more violent because of how young the boys are here.

Eddie woke up swaddled under so many blankets he was sure there had to have been some supernatural explanation for him to have survived the night instead of slow roasting to tender perfection. He was hot, sweaty, constricted, and by more than just the mountain of blankets.

"Jason." Eddie accused, trying to wiggle out from under the boy that had curled over him like a huge, bony snoozing cat with snakes for arms that he'd encircled one of Eddie's arms with.

Jason's eyes slipped open, distorted to bug like proportions close as they were to Eddie's. Then he huffed, and when he shifted it's only half off Eddie, and now his elbow was digging even deeper into the soft tissue of Eddie's gut. Unbelievably, Jason tried to burrow back under the measly portion of the blanket prison that Eddie's managed to free them from.

"Jason," Eddie tried again, this time shoving incessantly at his clingy friend while also trying to avoid the parts of said friend he remembered Jason favouring the day before.

The day before... Jason...

"Jason!" When he said it a third time, it came with the strength to shoot upright, but instead of pushing Jason's weight off him, he wrapped his arms around the other boy, pulling him in close and holding him there. "You're here." Like he had before Eddie half expected Jason to dissolve into a plume of Gotham's grungy smoke, a dream that was going to vanish the second Eddie acknowledged the dull daytime sunshine streaming in through the open window.

Now it was Jason's turn to protest, he whined and shuffled half heartedly in Eddie's hold, but he doesn't vanish. For a good few minutes that is all Eddie dwelled on, all he believed he needed to dwell on, just like the moment when he'd first realized he'd found Jason, he was too unbelievably happy for anything else to matter.

Then it finally sank in. It was morning, and they were still in the hotel room, nobody had come for them.

**ooo**

"I just need one more day, not even the whole day." Hopefully he wouldn't be needing the whole day, it shouldn't have taken too much longer for Mister Wayne to come for his son.

The lady at the reception was gone now, and the guy here now was... Eddie would have preferred all the apathy in the world over the wide eyed man looking down at him now. All sharp edges and wide smiles that made Eddie think of nothing so much as a hyena about to break into laughter before tearing it's prey into a bundle of bloody twine.

"Of course, we'll just need your parents and a debit card to confirm." He blinked and in the split second right when they closed, Eddie's overactive imagination gave them a gleaming red hue.

"I don't have any parents here," Eddie told him, tapping his card on the counter. "I checked in on my own yesterday."

The man eyed Eddie's card, his smile never faltering. "That's against policy, there must be confirmation from a legal guardian."

"My legal guardians are out of town." Technically, Eddie didn't officially have those yet, the paperwork was still processing and then he had to show up at the foster home for it to really be official.

"That's against policy." The man pleasantly parroted his previous reply.

"It wasn't against policy yesterday." Eddie sighed deeply, casting his eyes to the ceiling now noticed was decorated by something that could well have been blood, he really hoped it wasn't, it probably wasn't. "My Godfather booked the room, isn't that enough?"

"Of course." The man cocked his head to the side, giving him a disjointed look that Eddie was willing to look past now as he smiled back and tried to hand over the card again. "We'll just need him to confirm."

"Couldn't you just call and ask him?" Dan's number must still have been on record.

"That's against policy." The man said every word identical as it had been the last two times, down to the most minor inflection of each syllable. "If you would be so kind as to contact him yourself and provide confirmation."

"Can I borrow a phone at least?" Eddie tried his hand resting over the pocket containing the shattered remnants of his own phone, already knowing exactly what the answer was going to be. "Oh wait..."

"That's against policy."

" **That's against policy**." Eddie recited the phrase along side the unnerving receptionist.

Said recpetionists grin, impossibly, spread even wider. "We are happy to see you unerstand and we thank you for your co-operation."

" **You're welcome** ," Eddie ground out and forcefully pushed himself away from the counter before he could say something that would offend even the apparently sarcasm blind receptionist. It wasn't that guy's fault his company had those **policies** , Eddie couldn't get mad at a guy for doing his job.

Eddie sucked in a deep breath and pushed his hair away from his face, it was getting longer again. "Well, Jayce, looks like we're gonna have to..." When Eddie looked up, his friend was gone. Damnit, he'd been so focused on trying to keep them here until Batman found them, he'd forgotten to keep and eye on Robin.

**"Jayce**!' Eddie called, spinning on his heel, searching the crowded space, and when had it gotten so crowded? The hotel hadn't been this busy the day before. Something ripped at Eddie's rib cage, growing more forceful every long second Eddie couldn't see his friend. People walked by him, none of them so much as sparing a look at him except to snarl if he had to push his way through them, to see past them and then, **there**! 

There was Jason, standing near the entrance, but he wasn't alone. There was a woman with bright red hair, tugging on his arm. Eddie couldn't tell what she was saying as he rushed towards her, but he picked up on the tone, that fake sweetness that couldn't cover up a bitterness that meant trouble as soon as no one was watching. The small frown that curled Jason's lip as he tugged back may well have been a scream in his current state.

"Hey!" Eddie smacked at her hand, pulling Jason behind him by the back of the baggy hoodie he'd dressed Jason in when he'd noticed Jason shivering that morning.

"I'm trying to take my son home." The woman smiled down at Eddie, in contrast to the receptionist earlier, hers was soft, would have been believable even if Eddie hadn't know she was fibbing like an insurance salesman at a house fire. "He's been missing since yesterday," here she knelt down having the nerve to look like she was relieved, "haven't you, **Jason**?"

The use of his name had no outward effect on Jason himself, but it sent a gallon of liquid nitrogen coursing through Eddie's veins. The woman reached for Jason again, her neat dress jacket slipping open as she did so and revealing to Eddie a long, very sharp looking knife.

"No." Eddie denied her, shoving Jason further back as he put himself directly between him and this woman. "Who are you?" Eddie glared at her, fire quickly melting away at the ice, he reached into his back pocket for his bubble shooter.

"This doesn't concern you, child" she leaned in close to Eddie as she said it, her voice low enough that nobody passing by would be able to make the words out. "We'd prefer not to cause disturbance, but neither are we above another body in these streets, boy or no." She stood, brushing out imaginary lines in her dress pants as the shadow of another form crossed over them. "It's time to go home now." She offered Jason her hand, her soft, insidious smile back in place.

The man who'd just showed up was huge, dressed similarly to the woman thought his suit was more loose fitting. Unlike her, he didn't put in the effort of pretending he was anything other than what he was. Dangerous, he scowled down at Eddie, his huge, meaty fists curled tightly at his sides.

Eddie pushed himself and Jason away, putting the little distance he could between them and the danger, in the crowded room. His own hand wrapped tighter about the bubble blaster, deliberating inwardly about whether of not it would help while both of Jason's hands bunched up the fabric at Eddie's back. "I already called his dad," Eddie told them, the words coming out a lot shakier than he wanted them too, but still something to be proud about considering how dry and tight his throat had gotten.

That gave the woman pause, she angled her head slightly, exchanging a look with the man.

"He's gonna be here real, soon, any minute, so you'd better not..."

"Clever, too clever, now we can't leave you behind," the man cut him off, his voice smoother by far than his hulking looks would have hinted at. "His father hasn't been in this city in weeks. Come along quietly and we'll find a use for you too, instead of drowning you in the river before we leave. Our master can put that cleverness to use."

There was nothing soft about that, it wasn't quiet either. Eddie glanced about desperately, pleading with anyone who came near to do something, make a scene, call for someone else to get help, **anything**. But anyone close enough to hear was pretending very hard that they couldn't, giving the boys and the people threatening them wide a berth as the place afforded them. Nobody wanted to help them, if anybody cared at all, they didn't show it.

The next time the woman reached for them, Eddie had the blaster out the square device sending out a stream of electrically charged bubbles to intercept her. She yelped, obviously not expecting the punch Eddie had packed into the seemingly harmless weapon.

"Liar!" Eddie yelled over his shoulder, he took advantage of the second he'd bought to make a run for it, making use of the crowds to provide some cover while he dragged Jason along behind him. They had to be lying, and even if they weren't, **if** they weren't, Mister Pennyworth **was** there, he would get the message, he'd know by now Jason was back, all Eddie had to do was keep them safe a little...

"Oof," Eddie crashed into something hard enough to knock every vestige of a breath from his lungs, he ricochetted back to the ground, landing hard on his already bruised back. His new position gave him a good view of their pursuers navigating the crowd as easily as Eddie had, despite their far superior size.

A curse left Eddie's lips and as he leaped to his feet, seized Jason's hand again and moved to continue with their retreat. Then a spindly fingers closed around his shoulder, Eddie spun, blaster at the ready to hey rid of his new captor.

"Whatever is the matter, deary?" The old lady from last night, the nice one that had let him borrow her phone.

Shocked, Eddie tried to yank himself free, but her hold was stronger than he could have imagined, and Eddie could imagine a **lot**. Jason panicked, gripped Eddie's arm and pulled, adding his strength to Eddie's, but it didn't make any difference. "What are you...? Jason, run!" If Jason could at least get away there was still a chance his family would find him, then even if they didn't get to Eddie in time, at least one of them would be okay. It was okay, Eddie didn't even have a family to be safe for anymore.

But Jason didn't run, he launched himself at the old woman, on the attack, and attack that wound him on the ground, a foot at his back pinning him there firmly. Before Eddie had the chance to remember his bubbles, it was too late, the other two had already caught up with them, and horrifyingly, there were more people approaching, not all off them were dressed up, but all of them moved towards the boys with a purpose.

"That belongs to us." The woman said, her snarl promising pain.

"Please." Eddie directed his plea at the old lady, tears welling in his eyes, his should hurting where her long nails dug into it. She's been good last night, good enough to help them, if she could just do it one more time and let them go.

"Oh dear." The old lady grinned, her eyes gone wide and red, "You've found yourselves involved in something you shouldn't have." She spoke with the exact same tone, the same cadence as she had last night, but this time, there was something about it that sent a chill down Eddie's spine despite the adrenaline coursing through him, making him feel like he was going to **explode**.

The worst part, she wasn't even saying it to Eddie.

"Stupid wench." The woman said, the red of her hair flashed by Eddie and for some reason the thought entered his mind that Catherine, Jason's actual... who Jason had thought was his actual mother had had that shade of red hair too. Then there was a different sort of red. Eddie didn't see much of it, but he smelled it, the coppery tang assaulting his nostrils, nauseating and the old lady, suddenly was wearing what could have been exceptionally messy lipstick when she hadn't been before.

"Why don't you boys hurry along now," She grinned, wide and unnerving, her teethe stained with still more red.

As soon as she released them, they were moving. Now it was Jason's turn to pull Eddie along and he did made quick work of it more carrying Eddie than simply leading him. Eddie didn't get even a single glance behind him and they were already back out in the stinky Gotham air. The unholy shriek that followed after them was enough to convince Eddie that he didn't mind.

Eddie didn't know how far they ran or for how long, he didn't know if they were still being chased or by how many people. He didn't know what it was he'd seen back there and that part he didn't want to. All he did know was that he was exhausted, terrified and he was still along in a city that was a million times more dangerous than he'd thought with a friend he couldn't protect from it on his own.

And now they weren't even at the hotel anymore, Jason's family wouldn't know where to look for them. **Eddie** didn't know where they were, just that he was glad that whatever it was he was smelling, wasn't what they were sitting in. He hoped it wasn't and he couldn't even block his nose because he was too busy trying to suck as much air as existed in the word into his lungs. Jason was flat out wheezing, too weak now to have had to run the way he had, Eddie felt like he'd swallowed a cheese grater, he couldn't even imagine how his friend was hurting, and still he kept on clutching Eddie's hand in his own.

"Jayce." Eddie got out between two of his greedy breaths, shaking his head to clear if of vague images he couldn't even process. "I don't think we can wait for your dad to find us anymore." He stood up on trembling legs, feeling bad when he had to pull Jason up with him. "C'mon, we're gonna get you home on our own." Just like Eddie should have as soon as he'd found Jason.

Eddie had left his bag back at the hotel, everything but his bubble blaster, his busted phone and, thank every force in the universe that wasn't working against them, his debit card.

"We'll be fine." He told Jason, told himself too. "We're gonna be okay." He led Jason out of the alley, away from the smells and back followed the sounds of traffic to a busy road bursting with cabs to be haled. 

"Do you know how to get to Wayne Manor?" Eddie asked the first one that pulled over for them.

The driver did, he looked oddly at Eddie's hands, clasped tightly with Jason's, but didn't make a comment, just turned the radio to a soothing channel and soon they were on their way. It was that easy, it was so, stupidly easy and Eddie should have known to do it from the start.

He refused to think that it was **too** easy, he didn't notice the flickering, grinning red that dropped from a traffic light to attach itself to the cab as they drove by.


End file.
